Abstract
WE have received the first part of the Nature-Study Journal, published by the South-Eastern Agricultural College, Wye, Kent, with a preface by Sir William Hart-Dyke and an introduction by the editor, Mr. A. D. Hall, principal of the College. This new publication is the outcome of a discussion held at the College during a summer course for teachers in 1901, and the thirty-one teachers, mostly from schools in Kent and Surrey, whose names are appended to the part received constitute the first members, of a Nature-Study Society by which this journal will be maintained. The object of the journal, as set forth in the preface and introduction, is mainly to facilitate the teaching of “nature-knowledge” in rural schools, by enabling the teachers to interchange ideas and schemes of instruction and to be in communication with the Wye College as a central organisation. The whole subject of nature-teaching in rural schools has been brought into prominence of late years, and there has been a distinct revival in this branch of education to which we have, from time to time, called attention in these columns. The initiatory work of the Countess of Warwick in emphasising by practical example the necessity for the establishment of schools of science in rural districts (see article by Lady Warwick and Prof. Meldola, NATURE, vol. lix. p. 7), followed by the work of the Agricultural Education Committee inspired by Sir William Hart-Dyke and Mr. Henry Hobhouse, has been largely instrumental in bringing about this much-needed reform, and the demand for sound instruction in this kind of science has naturally been on the increase since the issue of the “Specimen Courses of Object Lessons, &c.” by the Board of Education (NATURE, vol. lxiii. p. 603). It is to be hoped and expected that this demand will go on increasing, and the establishment of the present journal is therefore opportune. The great danger to education in this country is complete apathy and neglect in the first place, and then reckless precipitation and unorganised excess in order to try to recover lost ground. Rural education is bound to go through the usual phases, and we may already begin to ask ourselves whether there is anything to be gained by the multiplication of organisations, conferences and congresses, all carrying on much the same work and frequently overlapping in functions.
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Nature Study in Schools 1 . Nature 65, 369 (1902). https://doi.org/10.1038/065369a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/065369a0